City may cut golf pro’s job

Copyright © 2009
Gallup Independent
By Bill Donovan
Staff writer

GALLUP — The new fiscal year for the city of Gallup begins on July 1, and city officials are looking at cutting expenses by $500,000 to give the city some breathing room when budget time comes.

Much of the savings will be made through cutbacks in expenses and through not filling vacant positions, but at least one city employee faces being laid off and another city resident who has a contract with the city faces having it not being renewed next year.

The city isn’t facing any serious financial problems. It’s main source of revenue — gross receipts taxes — has been steady since the nation’s economic downturn began several months ago, but City Manager Gerald Herrera said the cutbacks are necessary to make sure that the city continues to see growth in its finances to meet next year’s needs.

The $500,000 in cutbacks only make up about 2 percent of next year’s total operating budget of $26.5 million.

Herrera said city officials have come up with a number of recommendations on how to meet this $500,000 figure which will be presented to members of the City Council for their approval in the next few weeks.

Several positions that have been frozen since November — including a police administrative assistant, one in the municipal court and the recreation director position vacated by Esco Chavez — would not be filled.

A $12,500 contract the city has with Lisa Rodriquez in connection with the city’s film festival would not be renewed.

Herrera said this would not affect the $15,000 contract that Rodriquez has from the state.

The city’s contribution to the Northwest New Mexico Council of Government, which this year was $62,000, would be reduced by half. Herrera said the city and McKinley County paid double what other cities and county governments that are part of the COG pay because historically the COG provides Gallup and McKinley County more services. Now that the city has its own grant writer, these extra services are no longer necessary.

Herrera said that the city would also look at getting some people close to retirement to step down early. This would allow the city to decide whether to fill their positions next year or not. If they are filled, it’s likely that any replacement would be making less, which would also save the city some money.

The most controversial recommendation may be the elimination of the city’s golf pro position.

This position is currently held by Alex Alvarez, and while it’s elimination would save the city more than $50,000 in salary and benefits, some in the city feel it may also accomplish something else — bring a little peace and quiet to the city’s golf program.

City officials have admitted privately over the past couple of months that they believe a lot of the problems that now center around the program’s greens superintendent, Bob Weekes, may stem from the fact that neither Weekes nor Alvarez like each other and do not work together well. Weekes is paid $54,000 plus benefits.

One city official also pointed out that it wasn’t as if Alvarez was liked by all of the golfers. A survey taken by the city’s advisory golf committee last year revealed that while some golfers feel Alvarez is doing a good job and is a benefit to the golf course, a larger number named him as one of the negative aspects of playing golf at the course.

The Independent, as well as some golfers in the area, have come out strongly against Weekes, saying he, not Alvarez, needs to be replaced and at least one council member said he feels when this comes up to the council, there may be some sentiment to keep the golf pro position and do something with Weekes’ position instead.